With the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station and natural-gas power plants visible on the horizon, state officials on Wednesday celebrated a new power plant connecting to the power grid 45 miles west of Phoenix.

The $500 million Arlington Valley Solar Energy II project will be among the largest solar plants in the world when finished this year. It has about 400 construction workers finishing the project south of Interstate 10 and west of Arizona 85.

The project adds to Arizona’s large list of solar-power plants. If it were complete today, it would be among the 10 largest in the world. It will have 127 megawatts of capacity when finished. One megawatt is enough electricity to supply about 250 Arizona homes at once, when the sun is shining on the solar panels.

The largest in the world — the Agua Caliente Solar Project — is not far away, near Yuma, and still under construction.

Agua Caliente is being built by Tempe-based First Solar Inc. It already has 250 megawatts of capacity sending power to the grid and will have 290 when it is finished. However, other plants under development will continue to alter the list, including a 550-megawatt project First Solar is building in California.

LS Power of New York is building the Arlington project. Fluor Corp. of Texas is providing engineering and other services. The project uses solar panels from Hyundai and from Kyocera Solar, a Scottsdale subsidiary of the Japanese Kyocera Corp.

The Kyocera panels used at the project were manufactured in San Diego, according to Kyocera.

Gov. Jan Brewer and other dignitaries visited the Arlington project Wednesday to mark completion of the first section, which is now sending power to the grid and ultimately will send it to San Diego.

“These are the jobs that get Arizonans back to work,” Brewer said, standing beside the solar panels.

Arizona installed more solar at large, utility-scale power plants than any other state last year, according to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association. Arizona also ranked No. 2 among states for the amount of solar power installed last year, including large power plants and rooftop panels. Arizona installed 710 megawatts of solar-generating capacity in 2012. Only California installed more, with 1,033 megawatts.

“Watch out, California, because we are coming for you,” Brewer said, adding that the state helped clear red tape for such projects.

The plant is projected to generate about $20 million in sales and property taxes. The State Land Department will earn about $3.5 million in lease payments from the Arlington project.

“Now let’s go build a dozen more and claim that number-one spot,” Brewer said. “Arizona can do it.”

Dozens of companies have applied in the past several years to develop solar and wind projects on state land. Arizona State Land Commissioner Vanessa Hickman said about 15 “serious” applications remain that could come to fruition in the next few years.

San Diego Gas & Electric has agreed to purchase the electricity produced at the Arlington plant for 25 years. Such long-term agreements are usually required before large solar-power plants can find reasonable financing and get built, which is the reason many of the would-be projects around the state have not proceeded.

The plant connects to the power grid at the substation where SDG&E’s Southwest Powerlink transmission line begins.

“If you want a future in energy, you have to connect to Arizona,” said Jim Avery, SDG&E senior vice president of power supply.

He said that the utility also has signed a long-term contract to purchase power from a similar solar plant under construction in Imperial County, Calif., which got a one-year head start on the Arlington project but is not as far along.

“For that, Governor, I thank you,” Avery said to Brewer, noting how much easier it is to develop projects here.

LS Power has plans for a second phase of the same size at Arlington, which technically will be called the Arlington Valley Solar Energy I. But it has not yet secured a long-term power-purchase agreement for that site. It also would partially use state land.

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